findmypast vs ancestry.co.uk

[carmay]

I am at a point where I really need to get into parish records to pursue a few of the branches of my family tree. FindMyRoots says that they have the most complete collection of parish records, and Ancestry says that they have them as well.

I'd like to know people's experience with both places. I can only afford one, and I was leaning towards Ancestry as I can pay by the month. With FindMyRoots, I'd have to pay for at least 6 months up front which is quite expensive for me. I'm on a limited budget as I'm retired. I would like to get the most for my money in terms of being able to find information efficiently.

Please let me know of your experiences with both places so I can make a good decision

By the way, I live in the U.S. so I can't go to these places to look up the information in person. I'm interested mostly in Salford, Manchester, Liverpool, and I know my search will take me to Scotland at some point.

Thank you!
Carole

[Alexander.]

Hi Carole,

I assume you mean FindMyPast not FindMyRoots.

Both sites are great and have vast collections.

I think the best advise is for you to try out each site with their free 14-day trial (make sure to cancel before the end of the trial though). Each site has different things to offer and you can try out which is the best for you. FindMyPast might be better for Manchester, Ancestry.co.uk better for Liverpool.

For Scotland research you have to use ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk (neither Ancestry nor FindMyPast are great when it comes to Scotland).

Alexander

[dhelensmith]

I have both and use both.
In England and Wales FindMyPast much better search engine and gets there very quickly.
Ancestry however allows you to be more creative with your searches if you are having problems.
Ancestry MUCH better for records overseas, although you pay more for this.
Ancestry brilliant for London parish records(although much of their stuff is from family search).
FindMyPast helps me greatly with my Welsh parish records and more promised soon.
Ancestry has West Yorkshire parish records.
I couldn't choose between them and use them both.
My tree is on ancestry.
Best wishes
Helen

[carmay]

Thank you, Helen and Alexander. And yes, I did mean Find My Past   That was an oops. I fixed it in the title of the thread

I guess I will try both trial periods and see which one works best for me. My records are all in Lancashire, so whichever one has the best for that area would be of the most help to me.

My library has Ancestry.com but the library version only has the census records, nothing beyond that.

Also, does either one of the above have newspaper archives for the Lancashire area?

Thank you again,
Carole

[andycand]

Hi

It is important that before you spend any money you check that the websites actually have the records you are interested in. Do the 14 day free trial of each of Findmypast and Ancestry and see if they are of assistance. Also don't forget to look at Familysearch as that may be of help.

For Scotland, Familysearch has indexes of Scottish Parish Registers and also have indexed Births and Marriages 1855 to 1875 direct from the Statutory Registers, for images the only online source is Scotlandspeople http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/ which is a pay-per-view site. Ancestry and Findmypast do have transcriptions of Scottish censuses 1841 to 1901 but not images.

Andy

[geordiegirltx]

FYI, 
Since you live in the U.S, and not in the U.K ,you won't have to pay the tax on these sites
So the prices will be slightly cheaper for you

[dhelensmith]

I can access The British Library collection of 19th century newspapers  for free through my library,but from home. You ought to enquire. I go to the (bradford)library site and using my library card number I can get to  something called 'Infotrac', there are loads of papers from all round the country there and being added to all the time. Well worth it.
Helen

[dhelensmith]

Sorry you probably can't use the British Library from US.
Just been looking at which parishes in Lancashire ancestry and FindMyPast cover, neither seem particularly good.
Try lancashire on line parish clerk
http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/, I've always found that pretty good, but not been looking at Salford and Manchester.
Helen

[Ringrose]

Agree Lancashire OPCsvery good o try before spending.Also what about Free Reg site which has loads of pre 1837 records on.Also it may be worth just googling for the parish records in the areas you want and see what come up.Also a google genealogy search on the surname for that area may give some ideas,though they may not be accurate.
Ringrose